these violent delights (have violent ends)
by asterixn
Summary: When Annabeth's date stands her up, a boy she's never seen before shows up and saves her from embarrassment. Mortal AU. Percabeth. Based on a prompt from stars-above-luna on Tumblr.
1. I

these violent delights (have violent ends)

chapter I

by nocturnalis

* * *

Annabeth had been so excited when she'd first entered _Bianca's_ , a quaint little Italian restaurant near her house. It was her first date in a while. Lately, she'd been doing a lot of extra credit work. It was worth it, but it had cost her sleep and left little time just for her. Then, Matt, a new kid had asked her out. He had floppy brown hair and olive skin. His cheeks were dotted with freckles. He'd moved to New York a few weeks ago and she didn't really know much about him. So, left without a single reason to say no, she had said yes. Annabeth remembered how Matt had asked if she knew any good places near by. And so she'd recommended _Bianca's_. Annabeth had a friend who owned the place and she knew that the service was great, despite not actually having been there many times. Annabeth had given well-researched directions to and from _Bianca's_ to Matt. She texted it to him several times as well to appease her anxiety.

Then the night came. She'd picked out a silvery grey blouse that shined like moonlight. It was her favorite, one of the few gifts she'd gotten from her distant mother, Athena. A strange one, too, considering the rest were mostly books and a few other hard-to-find antiques. But it had brought her nothing but good luck since her mother had given it to her. Annabeth wasn't exactly a big fan of superstition, but it couldn't exactly hurt, could it? Under it, she chose to wear a purple pleated skirt along with dark grey tights and a pair of indigo flats. She wore the same owl stud earrings she always did and skipped makeup entirely. She could sketch the Eiffel Tower easily from memory but she was hopeless with makeup. Oh, how the Fates must hate me, Annabeth would sometimes think to herself sarcastically.

She ignored her stepmother in the kitchen playing with her two half brothers, they'd had a fight recently and things were a bit tense between them. Instead, she went straight to her father. After saying goodbye, she'd Uber'd to _Bianca's_ and arrived at 7 on the dot, exactly when they planned to meet, though Matt didn't seem to have arrived yet. After being led to her reservation by the maitre d', she set her bag down and looked out the window, maybe Matt was close.

After maybe 5 minutes, she'd given up on looking. The waitress, a short girl maybe a few years older than Annabeth, had come by once already, asking from behind her dark locks of hair if Annabeth was ready, but he wasn't here yet so she had asked for a few more minutes. Matt was late, but surely he'd be there any second, right?

To pass the time while she waited for Matt, Annabeth decided to look over the restaurant more thoroughly. She hadn't been there in several months and they'd obviously done a bit of renovation since the last time Annabeth had been there. Some things were the same. The wallpaper, for example, hadn't changed at all. In fact, it looked as pristine as the day she had first seen it, several years ago. The tables, on the other hand, were decidedly new. Before, they'd been small tables with square linoleum surfaces. Now though, the tables were some kind of antique wood with white linen tablecloth on top that added to the restaurant's charm. Overall the space felt much more spread out, too.

A voice interrupted her thoughts and Annabeth looked up to see the waitress with dark hair at her table once more.

"Are you ready to order yet?" She asked patiently.

Annabeth winced. This was the fourth time she had asked and Annabeth was no more ready than she had been 20 minutes ago. "Oh, um, could I just have a few more minutes, please?" Annabeth asked.

The waitress sent her a pitying glance but nodded politely before turning away and walking off to serve another customer. Annabeth's heart plunged. It seemed everyone in the restaurant was aware that her date had stood her up. The apologetic glances only served to make her feel worse and even Annabeth was beginning to doubt that Matt was ever going to arrive.

Annabeth glanced up at the small clock on the wall. 7:28, it read. Matt was nearly 30 minutes late, or at least he would be if he had even planned to show up at all. Annabeth felt like crying. Five more minutes, she decided. Five minutes, and if Matt still hadn't shown up after the five minutes were up, then… then- then she'd leave, her silver blouse having brought her nothing but bad luck for once.

Annabeth waited then. The pitying stares had only gotten worse. Every few minutes she would hear a "poor girl" or something similar echoing around the restaurant. She wanted nothing more than stand up and say that she didn't want their pity. But she couldn't do that, no, the last thing she wanted was to cause an even bigger scene than the one already unfolding at the moment.

Annabeth counted down the seconds in her head, trying not to let the tears that had already begun to well up in her eyes fall. 30 seconds left. 20. Ten.

Then, just as she was nearing 0. Someone new entered the restaurant. Annabeth wouldn't have paid attention to such a thing, but he was heading towards her. He looked 17, her age, with inky black hair and sea green eyes. He wore Khakis and a sweatshirt with the words "Goode Swim Team 2016" on it, as if he'd tried to look nice but had given up halfway through. He strode towards her table with confidence. She had never seen him before in her life, but that didn't stop him from striding over to her and sitting down at her table opposite of her.

Loudly, he said, "Sorry I'm so late, babe, traffic is crazy right now." He smiled earnestly at her but her only response was confusion. But the stares had backed off. No longer did she feel like she was choking under their gazes. She felt a million times better. Though, she couldn't help but stare at the boy in front of her, a question in her eyes.

"I'm Percy," he whispered to her, "just go with it, okay? Whoever didn't bother to show up is a dick."

Annabeth could hear her heart beating in her chest. This stranger had covered for her, prevented the embarrassment that no doubt would have occurred at this very moment had he not shown up, had she been forced to leave, tears threatening to fall because Matt had stood her up. But that hadn't happened, and she would be forever grateful. Of course she would "go with it" because he was being sweet and trying to save her.

At that moment, though, before Annabeth even had the chance to introduce herself, their waitress returned, smiling brightly. "Ready to order?"

"Oh, I think so," Percy said, but he hadn't touched the menu in front of him. "I'll have one Chicken Alfredo, you have that, right?" She nodded. "Oh, and a cherry coke please." The waitress wrote it down and then turned her head to Annabeth.

"And you?" She asked.

"I'll have water, and the Spaghetti Marinara, no meatballs, please," Annabeth said easily, she had studied the menu several times over while waiting for her douche of a date, Matt. She could probably recite it from memory by now.

"Alright," the waitress said, "should be ready soon."

As soon as she was out of hearing range, Annabeth introduced herself. "I'm Annabeth, thanks for the save." She smiled gratefully.

"Hey, no problem," Percy responded, "My apartment is right across the street and I noticed you sitting here. I had to do something."

"Well," Annabeth said, "aren't you a hero."

Percy rubbed the back of his head, "I guess, my best friend Grover says that I have a saving-people thing."

Annabeth tried to stifle her laughs. "Like Harry Potter?"

Percy grinned. "Exactly like Harry Potter."

"So," Annabeth said," tell me about yourself. Let's make this a fake date to remember. You're in high school right? You look my age, at least."

Percy raised his eyebrows teasingly. "Yeah? Okay, well, my name is Percy," his cheeks reddened, "um, as you already know. And yeah, I'm in highschool, I'm a Sophomore. You?"

"Oh, I'm a Sophomore, too." Annabeth didn't really know what to say next, though. The silence continued on for a few more seconds and only seemed to get more awkward. Trying to break through the ice, she asked, "You come here often? Since you live so close."

"Not really, but my friend Nico hangs out here often so sometimes I peek in to see if he's here. His sister owns the place."

"Oh, really? I guess I'm friends with his sister, then. Bianca, right? We met a couple of years ago." Annabeth said.

"Really? Cool, well look how much we already have in common, then." Percy grinned, flashing pearly white teeth at her.

"Yeah," Annabeth agreed, "guess so. How long have you lived in New York?"

"My entire life, though, I still seem to get lost every so often."

"Huh, well that's another thing we have in common then. Getting lost, I mean. I used to live in San Francisco, but I moved here earlier in the school year. Even with getting lost, though, you must know a whole bunch of shortcuts, wanna regale me with them?"

Percy smiled, he seemed to be quite talented at that, "I'd love to, but first, I think our food's here."

Annabeth turned, and sure enough, Percy was right. Their food was here. Percy's Chicken Alfredo looked delicious while Annabeth's Spaghetti Marinara seemed to glow in the soft lighting of the restaurant. As they ate their food, they continued to make small talk. Laughing every so often and smiling at what they had in common and what they didn't. Eventually though, the clock ticked nine o'clock and Annabeth knew that she had to go home soon, her father had asked her to be home before 9:30 so she wanted leave in the next few minutes.

"I had a wonderful time, Percy, but I should really be leaving soon." Annabeth said.

"Me too," Percy agreed. "If I stay out too late, no doubt my mom will think I've gotten into trouble. She's really paranoid about that sort of stuff. But, um, Annabeth?" He sounded unsure.

"Yeah?"

"I had a great night with you, and I was kind of wondering if maybe you'd like to go on another date? Like, with me?"

Annabeth grinned. "I'd love to."

Percy, who had been fumbling with his hoodie's drawstring, lit up brightly. "Great! How about, um here, I guess? Next Friday!" Percy pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket as if he had been waiting for this moment. He pressed the paper into the palm of her hand. "My phone number," he explained. Then he backed a few feet away from her, said goodbye, and crossed the street to his apartment.

Annabeth smiled as she watched him go. Maybe, despite the disaster that was Matt not showing up, her silver blouse was lucky after all. It had brought Percy into her life, hadn't it? She couldn't wait for next Friday.

* * *

 _A/N: I hope you guys like this, I know I haven't written anything in a while but I'm hoping to get back into writing this summer. Tell me what you think in the reviews and see if you can guess which character made a cameo as the waiter._

 _Have good day!_

 _~nocturnalis_


	2. II

these violent delights (have violent ends)

chapter II

by nocturnalis

* * *

Annabeth sat motionless in her room, staring at a sliver of paper. The numbers, scrawled in a messy slant, had captivated her for hours. It shouldn't have, logically it shouldn't have. But it had. Percy was— he was incredible. As cliche as she knew it sounded, Annabeth had truly never met anyone like him. Yet, she couldn't help but bite her lip in trepidation. Annabeth was strategic and logical, yeah, but when it came to people, at least, she never could be sure how their interaction could go. She was socially awkward. It was a state of fact; a simple truth. She knew this, and she couldn't help but wonder if last night had been a fluke.

Usually, she's quite sure of herself, but last night her judgement had failed her. She always thought her decisions through. She put brainpower into anything and everything that she could. And then— Matt had stood her up. And as great as Percy had been — saving her from embarrassment like that — it was as if she couldn't trust herself anymore, or at least her ability to read people, that is. And if she couldn't trust herself, how could she trust that Percy would show up next Friday to another date? She was no stranger to anxiety and paranoia, and Annabeth recognized it plainly as it flared up poignantly. _What if Percy doesn't even come?_ whispered her mind, _just throw away his number and go on as if you never met him. Avoid the heartache._

Annabeth had to admit it, the idea was annoyingly convincing. There's no reward without risk, but why risk at all if the reward isn't even that great? _Ugh._ Annabeth hated this. She hated the indecisiveness and insecurity. She hated how unstable things became when she got emotional, when she tried to be _happy_ for once.

At one point in her life, Annabeth supposed, she must have been content. She must have been. How sad would her life truly be if happiness really was such a foreign concept? She had distant, nebulous recollections of a time when it was just her and her dad. A far-away time where her father didn't yell and their house was big enough for both of them. Vague memories of drifting to sleep on a ratty couch as her father read the _Chronicles of Narnia_ or _Harry Potter_ to her. Movie nights with just her and her dad, snuggling together under a too-big blanket for warmth and watching _Star Wars_ or _Raiders of the Lost Ark_. Those were joyful times, days without worry or anxiety.

Her mother and father had only been together long enough to have her. They hadn't even married — Athena had never liked the idea of being tied to a man, as her father had told her — her mother had given full custody of Annabeth over to her father a few months after she'd been born and then left, resuming her travels of the globe. Annabeth had never even met the woman until she was 5 years old. It was around that time that her life, wonderful despite its imperfections, had started to fall apart. Regardless of her protests, her dad had become locked onto the idea of a mother figure. Eventually, he fell in love with a tall Asian woman named Helen Yu. By the time Annabeth had turned 8, her father had married her and Helen Yu — now Helen Chase — had become her new step-mother. But Annabeth had never truly been able to bond with her like she had with her father. If anything, Helen had further distanced her from her father and when a year later and her half brothers Matthew and Bobby were born, stealing even more of Frederick Chase's attention, the distance was even more prominent.

She'd grown up aloof, a distinct entity from her family. When they'd moved from Virginia to San Francisco when she was 12 it had only further alienated her by separating her from the few friends that she had. Only few years later they'd once again moved, this time to New York City.

Never before in Annabeth's life had she felt so alone. Like she'd done in the past, she threw herself into her schoolwork. She'd been stressed for most of this year. Now, with only a week left of her 10th grade year, she'd made a feeble attempt to have a nice night out. Matt had turned out to be a jerk, yes, that had been embarrassing and honestly a little traumatizing. It had been her first actual date in months — actually, it had been her first date at all since she'd moved to New York — and it had been so close to going terribly enough that it ensured she didn't go on a date for another year. Instead, she had met someone new, someone kind and charismatic and just… _amazing._ It was rather inexplicable but if she was candid, Percy really was just that. As much as it was unlike her, it was just her honest opinion, spoken from the heart.

 _Is this what love is like?_ Annabeth wondered blearily. She wasn't sure what exactly how she felt, only that Percy made her feel — well, she didn't really know _what_ he made her feel. This was such unexplored territory, an unfamiliar and foreign feeling that made her heart skip a beat.

The only thing she knows for certain is that whatever it is that Percy means to her, he's worth taking a risk for.

Annabeth picks up her phone and glances down once again to the thin piece of paper Percy had slipped her with his phone number on it. She stared at the digits for a second before typing them into her phone and double-checking that they're correct.

 _Hey,_ Annabeth types in trepidation, _this is Annabeth, from last night, you still up for Friday?_

Then she sits back and waits in anxiety, or maybe, just maybe, in hope, for a response.

* * *

 _A/N: please read!_

 _thank you all for being so patient! this should have come out so long ago and im sorry it didn't. in the mean time, thanks so much to allen r for their title suggestion, this new title is actually an idea from a friend and happens to be my favorite quote from the book it's from. If you comment the correct book ill give you a shout-out!_

 _there are also some things i would like to ask you guys about. for one, what do you think perspective-wise? im pretty much definitely going to keep writing in third but what do you think about having the perspectives of characters other then annabeth? im leaning towards doing this because i'd love to input plenty of world building. tell me your thoughts in the comments!_

 _also, if there are any characters who you specifically have any ideas about role they could play in this au, id love to hear them! i don't want this to just be a romance story, sorry in advance for anyone who was just hoping for fluff, im really excited to actually build this whole au and flesh it out- which will likely include many tears, heart breaks, and issues derived from absent parents._

 _chapter-wise, im hoping for at least 1k words per chapter, 2k if i can manage it, every friday afternoon (eastern time) though honestly im anything but consistent so bare with me here, reviews really do help drive the story forward so i really do appreciate every single one, i had major writer's block this chapter and all your support really helped._

 _finally, i edited some things from last chapter to fit my vision for this story, for one, annabeth and percy are now at the end of their 10th grade year (for my non-american readers, they're about 16 each) with only a week or so left in the school year, this will allow me to better understand how to write them since im only a year younger than that, it also helps me to keep their time more aligned with ours, so hopefully by next chapter everything will be more or less happening at the same time in the summer as it is for us. furthermore, i changed it so that annabeth came to new york a few months ago instead of in 9th grade._

 _thanks so much once again_

 _~nocturnalis_

 _(btw what do you think of my new username?)_


	3. III

these violent delights (have violent ends)

chapter III

by nocturnalis

* * *

Annabeth strode down the hallways of Northwest High School. She'd been counting the days until school ended for a while. It was Monday now, one last week — just five days, and then she'd be free from this prison. Annabeth does like school, don't get her wrong, but she was the new kid, and she'd come late enough in the year that even all the kids who'd been new at the beginning of the year had found cliques of their own, leaving Annabeth to be a loner for most part in the time she'd been here. She had a few — well, she was slightly hesitant to actually use the term "friend," but she supposed that's what they were — friends. Rachel, another girl who didn't exactly "fit in" had always been nice to her. Annabeth had shared her _AP Gov.,_ and _English_ classes with her, and after a partnered project in _AP Gov.,_ they'd more or less become friends. Rachel was honestly pretty cool, and Annabeth could see herself getting along well with her during her next two years of high school. Annabeth particularly admired how she stood up for what she believed in by helping to organize a myriad of protests and the like as well as participating in them vigorously. Through Rachel she had met Piper and Leo, who, along with Rachel, were pretty much the closest friends she had at Northwest. Piper had piercing eyes and a sharp tongue — which Annabeth could certainly appreciate. She wasn't afraid to speak up for herself when she needed to. Annabeth still didn't really understand how Leo had become friends with either of them, but she was grateful he had nonetheless. Of the three of them, Leo and her probably had the most shared interests. He was hyperactive and quirky, but in all honesty so was she. For the life of her, she had never actually mastered staying focused, no matter how hard she tried, and she could tell Leo had the same problem. Leo was first person she'd met and felt comfortable debating and discussing math and science with, as well as her other interests.

Annabeth could easily recall the first time she'd really gone in depth with Leo. Having no one to sit with at lunch, Rachel had invited Annabeth to sit with her and her friends — Piper and Leo. A few days after she'd originally met Leo and Piper, the conversation during lunch, which Annabeth had rarely participated in during the few days she had sat there before, had shifted to engineering. Leo, who had previously been boredly building model vehicles and aircraft out of his (and several others', including Annabeth's) stale french fries that had come with his school lunch, suddenly started paying more attention and participating himself even. Before Annabeth knew it, she had contested one of his opinions and engaged Leo in a passionate debate on which of the 6 simple machines were the most useful, convenient, and therefore the best. Annabeth was partial to the lever herself, though Leo had proved to be rather stubbornly insistent that the pulley was superior, despite Annabeth vehement arguments criticizing its practicality in situations where materials were scarce. When the bell had finally rung, indicating time to head to their next period, Annabeth and Leo had exchanged an exhilarated and energized glance at the prospect of similar debates in the future and agreed to disagree. It was only later that Annabeth had processed the surprise she'd seen on the faces of Rachel and Piper. It made sense, honestly, she supposed neither of them had ever really seen Annabeth speak so much in one sitting. _That had definitely changed in the months that had passed,_ Annabeth thought. As she'd grown more comfortable with the trio, discussions similar to that had become more and more common. It certainly didn't hurt that Leo was, for all intents and purposes, just as nerdy as she was. One of her favorite debates she's had with him had been over how soon they could expect to develop technology similar to that seen in _Voltron: Legendary Defender,_ specifically different methods of space travel as well as the possibility of the incredible feat of faster-than-light travel.

Of course, she was still just as close to Rachel and Piper as she was to Leo. In fact, she felt she related to Rachel and Piper quite a bit. All three of them had something to be desired in their relationships with their fathers, and because of that, Annabeth felt bonded to them. Rachel's father was some business man while Piper's was an actor, and neither of them ever seemed to have any time for their daughters, just like Annabeth's dad. In the past few months, Annabeth had grown closer to them than she had to anyone in a long time. Still though, she didn't think she would miss the drafty old hallways of Northwest High over the summer.

In her contemplation, she hadn't been looking where she was going and bumped into someone, knocking the _AP Gov._ textbook they'd been carrying to the ground. Annabeth inhaled sharply before bending down to pick the textbook back up while apologizing profusely, "I'm so sorry! I wasn't looking where I was going, I—" Annabeth froze when she saw the person she'd run into. _Matt._ She'd been dreading seeing him all week.

"Annabeth, hey," he seemed as surprised as she was to see him. "Sorry about Friday night, it was dare from Ellis Wakefield, you know how it is," she didn't. Annabeth's face hardened in anger..

"You don't look sorry," Annabeth said coldly.

Matt flinched, as if he thought she was about to slap him. Instead, Annabeth made a fist and punched him in the stomach. Not that hard, but hard enough to hurt, to make him wince and take a few steps back. Matt groaned lightly before looking around at the spectators staring.

"That was a dick move, Sloan. If I _ever_ catch you doing that to any girl again, I'll kick you twice as hard somewhere that'll hurt far more." Her voice was ice as she threatened Matt.

Annabeth raised the textbook in front of his face before dropping it to the ground. It was heavy and made a sound like thunder as it hit the ground, marking the finality of her threat and only adding on to its veracity. Then, without another word to anyone, she strutted down the hallway, back on her original path to the cafeteria.

The trip was short, and others who had seen her _confrontation_ with Matt followed in her wake, though at a safe distance away. When she reached her usual table, she sat down next to Piper, who was rebraiding a strand of her choppy hair. Neither Leo nor Rachel had arrived yet, but their previous classes were a bit farther away than her's was, so she didn't think much of of it.

"Hey," Piper said without looking at her, she was still focused on the braid, "How did the date go?"

"Hi," Annabeth said, " um, actually, he sort of stood me up, apparently it was some dare from Ellis—"

"He did _what?!_ " Rachel asked dangerously as Annabeth turned around to look at her. She and Leo and walked up behind them but had obviously overheard what she'd said. In the meantime, Piper had stopped braiding her hair, looking almost as angry as Rachel did. Leo's hands crumpled into fists. Annabeth was honestly touched that they cared this much, but she didn't want to make a scene, at least not more than she had already done in the hallway.

"Yeah, uh, he never showed up, but it's okay though! I actually ended up meeting a genuinely nice guy because of it, plus I kinda-sorta punched Matt in the hallway when I ran into him earlier," she placated.

And just like that, Leo's easy grin came back as Rachel's face relaxed and Piper smiled and returned to her braiding. Rachel and Leo sat down at the table as Rachel asked eagerly "How hard?"

"Considerably hard," Annabeth allowed.

Leo smirked, "Well, he certainly deserved it."

"Wait, hold on," Piper interjected as Annabeth was laughing. "Tell me about this guy you met! What happened?" Piper ordered.

"Well, Annabeth started, "his name's Percy, I think he said he goes to Goode High School, he sat down next to me when it was obvious no one was coming and pretended to be Matt, so no one knew my date had stood me up."

Leo, Piper, and Rachel all listened raptly as Piper gestured for her to keep going, so she did.

Minutes zipped by as she described their date to her friends. In the middle of their conversation, though, two girls walked up to them, one of them a step ahead of the other, as if leading. Her hair trailed behind her in a dark long braid Piper would be proud of as her piercing obsidian eyes passed over each of them before stopping on Annabeth.

"Hi," she said, "I'm Reyna and this is Gwen, we saw what you did in the hallway and we just wanted to say thanks," she smiled lightly, and though Annabeth didn't know her, it seemed almost uncharacteristic. " Matt was rude to Gwen and I last week, and honestly a touch sexist too. So thanks for putting him in his place, if there's anything you need, from Gwen or me, just ask."

As she began to turn away, Gwen smiled brightly and gave an additional thanks before fully turning around and following her friend.

As the rest of the day passed by in a blur, Annabeth couldn't help but wish that the rest of the days in her last week would too, but she didn't think she'd be that lucky.

* * *

 _A/N: Thank you all for your patience, bet you didn't think I'd update for another year, did you? Well here it is. The next update should arrive sometime soon, Friday hopefully, but more likely Saturday or Sunday. One thing I did want to ask was how you guys felt about cursing. Do you mind if they curse occasionally or would you prefer they didn't at all?_

 _Additionally, congratulations to cursedhazel (love the username btw) for correctly guessing the origin of the title- Romeo and Juliet. Finally, to the guest who said they hated the new title, that's fine, but if you actually want to change anything then try actually telling me what you don't like about it and give me suggestions on how to fix it._

 _Thanks so much, anyways! Currently we have 83 favorites, 48 follows, and 21 reviews! That is incredible, thanks so much for all your continued support!_

 _~nocturnalis_


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